Center For Asset Management LLC Purchases Shares of 2,705 Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. $RCL

Center For Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 2,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $875,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $303,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP boosted its position in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 40.8% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 20,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,297,000 after acquiring an additional 6,063 shares during the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 15.7% during the 2nd quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,118 shares of the company’s stock worth $976,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 54,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,929,000 after acquiring an additional 3,668 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in the second quarter valued at approximately $208,000. 87.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RCL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $332.00 to $398.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $380.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $348.52.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Stock Performance

Shares of RCL opened at $277.94 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $75.19 billion, a PE ratio of 17.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.87. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $303.78 and a 200-day moving average of $298.58. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. has a one year low of $164.01 and a one year high of $366.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 0.18 and a quick ratio of 0.16.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The company reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.80. Royal Caribbean Cruises had a net margin of 23.80% and a return on equity of 45.06%. The business had revenue of $4.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.28 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.63 EPS. Royal Caribbean Cruises’s revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. will post 14.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. This is an increase from Royal Caribbean Cruises’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Royal Caribbean Cruises’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.44%.

Royal Caribbean Cruises declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, December 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 2.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Royal Caribbean Cruises

In other Royal Caribbean Cruises news, Director Arne Alexander Wilhelmsen sold 356,026 shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.39, for a total transaction of $113,355,118.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 16,681,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,311,186,488.54. The trade was a 2.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jason T. Liberty sold 90,910 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $326.81, for a total transaction of $29,710,297.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 218,822 shares in the company, valued at approximately $71,513,217.82. This represents a 29.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 1,967,319 shares of company stock valued at $626,681,935 over the last quarter. 6.95% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Royal Caribbean Cruises

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE: RCL), operating as part of the Royal Caribbean Group, is a global cruise company that develops, markets and operates passenger cruise ships. The company operates multiple consumer-facing cruise brands that offer short- and long-duration itineraries and a range of onboard experiences. Its core activities include itineraries and voyage operations, guest services and hospitality, onboard food and beverage, entertainment and recreation programming, and the commercial activities needed to sell and support cruises through both direct and travel‑agent channels.

Royal Caribbean’s ships serve a broad set of geographies worldwide, regularly deploying vessels in the Caribbean, North America (including Alaska), Europe, Asia, Australia and South America.